The KP.3 COVID-19 variant is continuing to lead as the dominant variant, the newest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows.
For a two-week period starting on June 23 and ending on July 6, the CDC’s Nowcast data tracker showed the projections of the COVID-19 variants. The KP.3 variant accounted for 36.9% of positive infections followed by KP.2 at 24.4%.
"Estimates predict that KP.3 is the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant making up 31.2 to 43% of viruses nationally. KP.3 is projected to continue increasing as proportions of the variants that cause COVID-19," CDC Spokesperson, Rosa Norman, told USA TODAY in a statement. "KP.3 evolved from JN.1, which was the major viral lineage circulating since December 2023."
The data also shows that the new variant LB.1 has fallen back 3% by accounting for 14.5% of cases but was previously at 17.5% of infections. JN.1, the previous ring leader since 2023, only had 1.0% of positive cases which is a 0.6% decrease from the previous two-week period.